AN Ilkley man is hoping his selfless action will prompt others to provide a gift of life to leukaemia sufferers.

Roy Johnson donated bone marrow in March this year which will be used in a life-saving transplant on an American women he has never met.

Mr Johnson, 37, said: "The whole procedure was fine. I would be more than happy to do it again."

The systems engineer for NG Bailey and Co Ltd joined a donor register and gave a blood sample when Ilkley Round Table organised a donor recruitment clinic on behalf of the Anthony Nolan Bone Marrow Trust.

He was told earlier this year that a further blood sample had proved a perfect match for a patient in the USA. Six weeks later he travelled to London for an operation to remove marrow from his hip bone.

"I was left with a bit of a headache and felt a bit sore and bruised but there is no lasting effect," said Mr Johnson.

He said his employer had also been generous by allowing him to have enough time off work to complete the procedure and recover.

"It is not an unpleasant procedure, the biggest problem is the time it takes," Mr Johnson said.

According to the rules of the charity, Mr Johnson was allowed to send the recipient of his bone marrow a good luck card but he will not know her identity until two years after the operation.

The father of two, of Wharfe View Road, said: "I would be quite interested to meet her one day but it is not likely because we live so far away."

Mr Johnson is from Kent but moved to Ilkley in 1986 where he lives with his wife Jennie and children Hollie, seven and Matthew, five.

He said that he hoped that by going public about his own contribution, other volunteer donors might be prompted to come forward.

There are currently more than 7,000 children and young adults who desperately need a bone marrow transplant for the chance to live, but who have no compatible matches on the Anthony Nolan Trust's national register and the charity is desperate for volunteers.

Mr Johnson said that as well as volunteers the charity also needed money to pay for, among other things, expensive matching

procedures on blood samples.

The Trust was set up in 1974 to operate the world's first register of volunteers willing to donate bone marrow. Transplants of bone marrow are the very last hope of life for a leukaemia patient.

Anyone who can help the charity in any way should call the Harrogate office on 01423 879510.

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